There are a variety of wheel constructions for motor vehicles, especially automobiles. Frequently, these wheels are manufactured from one piece. Advanced constructions provide the manufacture from a plurality of individual parts. This is especially the case in the constructions made of fiber-reinforced plastics currently being developed. Efforts are made to overcome the limitations in the design freedom that result from the technological constraints of the manufacturing process. Thus, DE 10 2006 051867 suggests a wheel made of fiber-reinforced plastic, in which the spokes are formed by loops made of reinforcement material, which are designed as deflected at the hub, following the inside of the rim and abutting one another in the intermediate space between the hub and the rim. The thus resulting wheel spider is connected in substance to the rim which is likewise manufactured from fiber-reinforced material. Due to the design here, no sufficient variations of the design of the wheel spider are possible.
Other known constructions attempt to overcome these drawbacks by milling out openings between the spokes made of fiber-reinforced solid material (e.g., a disk which may also be contoured). In this process, however, it is disadvantageous that the fiber reinforcement becomes damaged, which leads to losses of strength.
DE 10 2010 010512 A1 provides a wheel spider, which is connected to the rim well in a non-positive-locking or positive-locking manner. The wheel spider consists of fiber composite material or metal. It is disadvantageous that the wheel spider must be premanufactured and cannot be manufactured in conjunction with the manufacture of the entire wheel. The transmission of forces between the metal and the fiber composite material of the rim is problematic in a wheel spider made of metal. The different coefficients of expansion of the materials may contribute to damage.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,669,940 B2 takes a different approach. A wheel disk designed as a full-surface disk is concealed by means of preset spokes here. In a preferred embodiment, these spokes are designed as loop-like structures, which abut one another directly in the hub area and run together in the intermediate space between the hub and the rim as well. The fastening in the hub area takes place by means of a union ring and bolt connections. These spokes are fastened to the rim by means of bolt connection in an essentially axially parallel direction. The spokes are used exclusively for decoration purposes and they do not assume a load-bearing function. Accordingly, provisions are made for them to be made of a plastic material and to keep the connection to the wheel in a detachable manner. Due to the function of the spoke construction as a pure protruding part for a disk wheel, the weight of the wheel is increased disadvantageously.